February 23, 2015

Colorblindness and Education

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I last wrote. Life as a mom is a crazy, busy and thrilling adventure. My life has shifted so much in the past couple of years. I no longer learn in a classroom, but through out every day life. I continue to frequent the library and am a voracious reader. I look forward to the time that I can return to the classroom, but until then I do my best to keep my mind sharp.

I'm part of an excellent book club, that challenges me to read things outside of my comfort zone. It encourages me to read non-fiction in areas I would not normally choose. This month we are reading, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Have any of you read it? It was written in 2010 by Michelle Alexander. Alexander is a civil rights advocate with a long history in law.

The premise of the book is that our prison system and the war on drugs are the new Jim Crow laws of our time. It was a fascinating book and made me think back to my diversity classes at college.

One of the ladies in my group shared this video. When I taught my class was predominantly Caucasian with a small percentage of Latino children. I never had any disciplinary problems, but I taught younger kids. Have you run into issues like this?

Do you have conversations about black history month? I looked at TPT and TN for resources for black history month and realized there are very few resources that highlight modern people. Do you bring up situations like Michael Brown? I realize that is a hot topic right now, but I would love to hear how others are teaching about Black History Month.